Page 30 of Warrioress

Drawing her fur-trimmed cloak higher around her neck, she buried her nose in the soft scarf wrapped snuggly around the lower half of her face. Outside of the silence, the freezing temperatures was the worst thing about being out there. Somehow it felt even colder as she made her way across the valley plains than it did leading a patrol around the lower district. She wasn’t entirely sure how that was possible, but she was pretty sure that she was going to eventually freeze her tits off.

And why was it taking so long to reach the edge of the plains? Shouldn’t there be a tree or something by now?

Uma squinted into the distance and sighed heavily. The snow stretched on for miles still, the mountains and the shadow of forest rising up their slopes only an impression in the distance.

“How long did it take you to cross the plain?” she asked, her eyes briefly turning toward Laro.

“A full day,” he replied with a casual roll of his shoulders. “But at our current pace I would estimate two days, perhaps half of a third.”

She was slowing them down that much? And here she had thought she was walking at a brisk pace across the snow. Of course, it didn’t help that she couldn’t spread her weight with her feet like the Ragoru could. Like in the yard, they moved freely over the source of the snow unencumbered whereas Uma was once again sinking with every step. And she was starting to feel it too. After hours of walking, her inner thighs burned and ached as exhaustion set into her bones. She was accustomed to walking around the lower district, but wading through the deep snow was far different. Three days marching through the snow? Fuck.

She groaned quietly to herself. Yet another thing she hadn’t prepared herself for. To make matters worse, the sun was still high in the sky, meaning that they still had more walking ahead of them before they made camp for the night. Blessed Mother, was she even going to make it? It would be humiliating if she had to have the triad drag her carcass once she was unable to walk any farther.

A grimace tugged at the corners of her mouth. Had the last few years serving as acting captain of the lower district guardswomen somehow diminished her strength to some degree? It was true that she didn’t patrol as often as she had previously. Usually only during important feast days and major festivals was she pulled from her work to supervise on the ground. It was true that the deep snow was more difficult to walk through, but her stamina should have been better. It had only been... what... six hours since they set out early that morning, after seeing to the situation with Adrin Meril. By her estimation and the position of the sun, they still had two more hours of walking, at minimum, before the sun began to sink into the mountains.

Perhaps she had gotten soft after all.

Her lips twisted further with distaste. That settled it. She was going to take extra patrols and log more hours in training when she returned to the citadel. She stumbled forward with a quiet grunt as she forced her way forward, picking up her feet from the heavy weight of the snow with iron determination. The snow pulled at her boots, but a slight misstep out onto a weaker area resulted in her foot sinking into the ice up to the knee and farther up the inside of her thigh. She winced, grunting quietly to herself as the frigid accumulation brush the heat at her core, and practically tipped over from the shock of it.

At least none of the males was laughing—or not yet anyway. She silently dared them as she stretched her arms wide to regain her balance. She peered suspiciously down at the snow, suddenly feeling even more tired than she had a moment earlier.

“Uma?” Laro’s softly spoken word drew her eyes up to his concerned gaze. The wind had started blowing at some point and ruffled the male’s gray fur. “Are you well?”

Her impulse was to snarl at him and knock him away—to tell him that of course she was fine and push him away from in afront. But, gods, she was tired. She didn’t have the energy to play with him. Reaching up to drag her scarf down from her mouth, she wearily shook her head.

“To be honest, I’m tired. I’m cold. I have snow melting in odd places. At this moment I’m contemplating just sitting down right here and waiting until spring returns,” she mumbled.

Kam chuffed softly as he slipped forward, popping up at Laro’s opposite side with a mischievous smile. “If you do that, then we would be forced to drag you across the snow. Then you will just get more snow into uncomfortable and new spots.”

Uma stopped mid-step and peered over at him. “Gods, do you promise? If you swear to drag me, I will tolerate additional melted slush to avoid walking any farther.”

He blinked, his mouth moving wordlessly for a moment, before a bark of laughter escaped him and he shook his head. “You do not wish to be dragged.”

She squinted back at him. “Want to bet? At this point it is be dragged or set up camp because my legs aren’t going to carry me much farther.”

Kam peered back at her uncertainly for a moment but broke out into a grin that instantly made her wary. And for good reason too because not even a moment later she heard a menacing growl behind her. It was alarmingly close to her ear, and that idiot was still grinning—perhaps even wider. She wasn’t certain and didn’t have time to analyze it when she was suddenly hauled off her feet. The undignified scream that left her was absolutely shameful, and she was grateful that none of her subordinates were around to hear her as her boots left the snow, sending it scattering everywhere, as she was flung against the dense fur of Vrin’s chest.

Sputtering, she brushed his fur away from her face as the male set off at a ground-eating pace. All four of his arms held her pinned securely so that she had little to worry about regarding his neck-breaking speed. Her fingers dug into his fur, however, as she glared up at him incredulously. His head tipped only for a moment to give her a smug smile before refocusing on the blur of snow speeding toward them up ahead.

“What the fuck are you doing?” she shouted, knowing good and well that he could hear her, but the asshole only chuckled and gripped her more tightly as he shifted into a fast lope carrying them over the snow.

“You did not wish to walk,” he reminded her with a deep, rumbling growl. “Good. But you are at my mercy now,” he growled, and for some reason that was a hundred times sexier than it should have been.

She practically creamed at the dark note in his voice but was then forced to swallow back a groan when his lower hands shifted on her thigh, drawing them around his thick torso to hold her more comfortably as he ran. It sent a shockwave through her as her most sensitive spot between her thighs rubbed illicitly against his abdomen, and continued to do so as he ran. She shivered as heat whispered to life and began to rapidly uncoil. Vrin’s large body shuddered against her, letting her know that he was also affected, and yet he did not let her go but held her closer until she was certain she felt a swelling bulge between them that had them both gasping and deep grunts rumbling from the male carrying her every now and then.

Gods, she didn’t even notice the cold anymore as heat rushed through her in a cyclic network that left her feeling like a noodle as she clung to Vrin’s powerful chest.

Blessed Mother, she was in trouble. But thank the gods she didn’t have to walk any further that day.

Chapter 23

Vrin’s cocks ached in a fever pitch of sensation that he had not felt since the Withering Days rut released its hold on him. He wanted her. He wanted to drop her in the snow and draw her ass up into the air, giving him complete access, and fill her and pound his seed deep into her so that his scent might never leave her.

Not now, though. He gritted his teeth and pushed back the impulse. Although he could scent her responding need, his lust was not what she truly required right now. His female needed shelter and rest. And warmth. Despite his fur and body heat keeping the worst of the chill from her, he could feel her shivering against him. Vrin increased his speed in response, his ears shifting and pricking toward the small sounds that gradually began to come to life as they neared the forest edge at the base of the border mountains. The trees loomed taller, their branches spreading wide in welcome, offering protection from the harsh elements of the open plain. He inhaled their scent with relish, cleansing away the odors of the citadel from his nose as he darted among the trees.

His pace barely broke as he raced along an invisible winding path. His nostrils flared, catching the familiar scents, his four eyes shifting—the two pairs moving independently—as he looked for the subtle marks left by his triad on their journey to Old Wayfairer Citadel. He picked them up easily enough, as did his brothers who slid among the trees like shadows around him, clearly of the same mind as him as they gradually ran along the sloping foothills of the mountain.

The snow had picked up again—they needed to find shelter as soon as possible. Fortunately, there was a small cave that they had all squeezed into previously. Vrin grimaced. Calling it a cave was being generous, but it would at least block the wind and most of the snow. It was too shallow to be any sort of cave—more a large break in the rocks as if something had scooped out stone and left a small den.

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